This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Arboretum’s “Garden Gems” series – 45 can’t-fail, easy-care, low-water plants well adapted to our region and that add sparkle to drought-tolerant landscapes.

Water needs: Low to medium; once established, water deeply every other week.

Snapshot: This charming succulent from another Mediterranean climate – Chile – is gaining new fans in California. Besides the arboretum’s teaching nursery, rock purslane can be found in many large nurseries and home centers. Rock purslane forms a low mound of smooth, succulent blue-gray leaves; that foliage is attractive in its own right. But it’s those brilliant magenta flowers that make this succulent such a standout. From late spring through frost, these sparkling blooms seem to float above the plant on tall, slender 3-foot stems. These neon-bright flowers will stop people in their tracks along paths and entryways. Bees and beneficial insects appreciate them, too.

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